Watch: Tragedy and comedy in Bong Joon-ho’s… | Little White Lies

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Watch: Tragedy and com­e­dy in Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite

01 Jun 2020

Words by Luís Azevedo

Group of people in traditional Asian clothing holding a cake and celebrating together outdoors.
Group of people in traditional Asian clothing holding a cake and celebrating together outdoors.
Dis­sect­ing the slap­stick and dra­mat­ic ele­ments of the South Kore­an filmmaker’s Oscar-win­ning satire.

Ques­tion: what do Julius Cae­sar and Buster Keaton have in com­mon with South Kore­an film­mak­er Bong Joon-ho? Two words: com­e­dy and tragedy.

To cel­e­brate the home ents release of Par­a­site on 1 June, we asked ace video essay­ist Luís Azeve­do to explore the tech­niques Bong uses to jux­ta­pose and bring togeth­er these two ends of the emo­tion­al spectrum.

Get more Lit­tle White Lies

Watch below to find out how Bong com­bines ele­ments of slap­stick humour and high dra­ma to daz­zling effect in his Oscar-sweep­ing social satire.

Par­a­site is now avail­able to own and watch online here.

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